Milovana.com

I keep track of holidays for a friend of mine who always wants to know what holiday it
is...well it is obviously, May day

and Beltane

but according to a website people in the southern Hemisphere celebrate..
Samhain?

I know this is not a "typical" post but I also know that I have a few Milovanians who are more into Wiccan/pegan holidays
so would someone kindly confirm that this is true for me?

I am just curious ... I didn't know this before, or forgot, or just never thought about it..

Hope you all can forgive an not typical post
in the quest for knowledge.
so do people in southern ... Really celebrate Samhain?? near today??

.

I believe most pagans observe Samhain as All Hallows' Eve -- 10/31.

Beltane, however, is 5/1.

aldorax wrote:I believe most pagans observe Samhain as All Hallows' Eve -- 10/31.

Sorta.
SC is right, since Samhain is (or at least was) a harvest-celebration it depends on the hemisphere you're in.
So in the north it's the night between Oct. 31st-Nov. 1st, and in the south it's Apr.30th-May 1st.

The short version is that the pagan/celtic/wiccan (whatever you choose to call it) sabbaths/holidays follows a circular pattern: Samhain - Yule - Imbolg - Ostara - Beltane - Litha - Lughnasadh - Mabon (and back to Samhain).

Where you 'start' the wheel depends on the hemisphere. Samhain in the south is Beltane in the north.
That leaves you with Maypoles in October in the south......
Which goes some way to explaining why the old ways died out.

Cheerfully

CheerfullyInsane wrote:Which goes some way to explaining why the old ways died out.

I wouldn't go that far... )O(

so it really IS samhain in south??

the reason I ask this is I was in tropics and christmas was in december

so I doubted the website info...
that may ONE would be a celebration of samhain.

again I apologise, for this post, but if it any conciliation
I trust my fellow Milovain's more than a website!

CheerfullyInsane wrote: Which goes some way to explaining why the old ways died out.

No, that was more down to a systematic eradication of the "Celtic" way of life first by the Romans, who placed their temples atop the holy places of the indigenous peoples like a sandel print in the sand, then the Christian Church who followed suit by strategically setting the dates for their own Holy days at the traditional times of the old religions. All Hallows eve on Samhain for example, and Christmas at the midwinter equinox.

But broadly, had the pre Iron Age society of Northern Europe extended as far as the southern hemisphere, then yes it would have made sense for them to celebrate their harvest festivals at different times. As it is, they didn't. The furthest they got (evidence wise) was the north western deserts of China.
There may be people celebrating the festivals as a form of Modern paganism in the southern hemisphere, but this is very far detached from the religions and faiths of peoples that lived and died nearly 2000 years ago on the other side of the world.

Thank you Banquo for your post!

That is kind of why I asked
I mean
why would a southern Hemisphere culture celebrate a northern hemisphere holiday??

that didn't seem to make sense to me...

I am sure there are still tribal celebration for seasonal changes and ancient rituals alive and well...
but Samhain in may??

Still wish I could get a more solid Yes/NO this is true or not true
from someone...
guess I will just have to leave it as a curiosity question

thanks for the posts!!

SexualChoc wrote: Still wish I could get a more solid Yes/NO this is true or not true

Well for a definitive answer, I would say, that NO, Samhain is not relevant in the Southern Hemisphere. The belief systems of that half of the world may have their own equivalent however. If you look from an historical stand point, farming only really developed in the Northern Hemisphere, though there are exceptions. The people of sub saharan Africa, or the rain forests of the Amazon basin would have no need to celebrate harvest as their economy would have been based on hunting and gathering. It wasn't until the interference of Europeans that this began to change.

Modern pagans of course could well celebrate Samhain, and if they are south of the equator it would make sense for this to happen at this time of the year.

But as I said, modern paganism really is far detached from the actual religions of pre Iron age northern Europe. There is very little historical evidence for what these people actually believed in, and as such the neo paganism movement is more of an imitation of the old religions than a continuation.